Card selector machine



March 5, 1946. H. VAN Bx-:Nsci-IOTEN E 3959923 CARD SELECTOR MACHINE lFiled Deo. 27, 1943 5 sheets-.sheet 1 l rw'.

Willi am H. varLElgns chcgTEn 'ITORN EY CARD SELECTOR `MACHINE William H. van Eens. c'hnn'en BYh ATTORNEY March 5, '1946. w. H. VAN BENSCHTEN I 2,395,923

CARD SELECTOR MACHINE Filed Deb. 27, 194:5 5 sheets-sheet z:

INVENTOR arch 59 1946.

' CARD sELEc-:TOR MACHINE Filed Dec. 27, 194s 5 sheets-sheet 4' HIIIIIII maar,

Will-'L am H van Bans d1 :man

'w. H. VAN Bl-:NscHoTEN 29395923 i,

March 5, 194:6.` w. H. VAN BENscHIOTEN 2,395,923

GARDy SELECTOR MACHINE Fjile'd Dec. 27, 1943 l 5 sheets-Sheet 5 ze J 430 64 43 9\ EQ 42 9,9 1.? 427130 121k 92 2 x 8 u I 8,

79 ./5` 7%9 h g4 o 1p1 an nr' 11a O zr' f 3 m w 3 e 129 z Patented Mar. 5, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

can-n SELECTOR william n; van nenschoten, united states Navy Application December zr, 1943, sensi No. 515,815

5 claims. (ci. 12e-r6.1)

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as'

amended April 30, 1928; 370 Q. G. 757) lected by the operator. f

There are'in the art a number ofcievices t perform somewhat similar functions' in accorci-l ance with various systems which are more or less complicated.

The object of the present invention is to `nroduce, a machine that will be simple to operate` and' .will' enable the operator to simultaneously pull out all of the cards in a series or le oi any total: number of information cards'. which include some specific characteristic or combination of characteristics, as desired. 1

A further object is to construct a machine accommodating any total numberv of cards-` each covering detail information on a specific one of said number of items of the same generalclass, for which thev machine is used, and having. means for instantly selecting all those cards which de scribe items having one. or more common Vchar-v acteristics.

A further object isv to provide a card case', containing a complete series of cardsI each-of which discloses one of a group of'items of. the; same class, such as airplanes, ships, tanks, etc., with means' for instantly withdrawing all cards disclosing those items havingone ory more common features that may be selected bythe operator" Other and more specific objects of this havention will become apparent asv the: description of one illustrative exampley of my device proceeds, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. I is a iront View of a, preferred form `of my device, adapted in the. present embodiment for selecting cards in accordance with up to forty different characteristics or the items in the class covered, a portion of' the ton` of the carrying case being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine with they cover removed, showing a series of cards in place in the card space;

main lever in their normal inoperative positions;

Fig. 6'y is a viewer Vthe'same `mechanism with the key and card ,rail` unit raised over the xed catch rail and-the mainlever' slightly depressed on its way down during the operating movement;

'I isa rear'vi-ew of the mechanism immediately infront oi the cardv space;

Fig. iiv is; a portion of this mechanism which operates the slidablekniieY assembly, showing the main operating lever. down in. a position for holding the knives: withdrawn; y

V9 shows a little morey of this mechanism with the main lever down a little further where it engages the knife assembly lowering mechamsm;

Fig. 10v is arportion of the same mechanismwith the main lever still iurtherfdown-where yit-en.- gages the lock releasing; mechanism for lowering the card end' guard rail, Y f

Fig. 1l shows that portion Qi the mechanismv Y operated by the loading key for bringing the end rails up to card supporting position while withdrawing the knives? to permit insertion or removal of cards. in the card space and locking the guard rail in operative position, l v Y.

Figs.'12 and 13 aresimilar to. Fig. il,l but show the mechanism in furtherl advanced steps inthe selecting operation, and

Fig. 14 shows' a detail view mechanism as seen from the side ofthe machine. Similar parts in the v several views. and figures of the drawings 'are designated by like numerals vThe general functions and operation oi the machine will be first. deiined' and. then the opf erating mechanism willbe described in detail'. A descriptiver card ismadeout for each of' a,

series. vof itemsof any general class, such aswforv example, known existing v,foreign and? vdomestic warships,l as. in. the present instance.` The cards,

ticing'notched in a predetermined manner, in

accordance with the. features included. in the Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along section line 3-3' of Fig. 2', showing one of the cards of a series describing battleships, which. are used; for the purpose ofv illustration in the present em. bod-iment of the device- Fig. 4` is an end' view: taken from the` right end. f.

of Fig. 3' with endf plate removed;

Fig. 5 is a portion of the mechanism. showing a key and card rail assembly and a portion' ofth items described,y are allloaded or placed in the card space of the machinein any arbitrary order. The: loading key is. -then'raised and the machine is. ready for operation.

When it is desired to pick out the machine describingitemshaving one. or more of a series of. most discernible features, "as it would. be,-, for example.. in thev process of identiflf cation of adestroyeror battleship observedat 1 such distance thatcnly a limited. number of! features thereof can be distinguished andits identity cannotv be immediately establishedtsuch cards may `he promptly selected" and y.drawn out. from this whole series; by the aid. of thismachine, and

ofthe. loading key y all the cards in'` Y The above selection of thecards ,is made as follows; 'asmanylofbthe speciiic features as canv be seen lat iirst sight are immediately registered on the keyboard by tripping the keys on the ma,-

.71o chine which are designated by those features,"

and the main operating lever is thendepressed 1;,

and released, whereupon the deslredcards V,are ejected to one side into an open space in the ma'- chine for easy withdrawal,..aftcr'the manual withdrawal of which the machine is ready of operation to select any other cards out of-fthe re#Y mainder, having ships with anyfother desirable combination of features. The ejected cards; fter having served their purpose, may be replaced in any order into 'the card space'wlth the rest' of the'eardsby loweringtheload key during` their insertion, then raising 'it toy put the machine in readiness for another selectingoperation.

` Referring now to the guresin the drawings, which disclose this-specic`form` of myA invention for purposes' of illustration; the machine is rigidly Amounted ln artray lI having padded feet 2 at'the four corners thereof, and a latch pin 3 at each end. `This tray forms tn ebottom of a carrying case for the machine as wellasl a support pad for placing the machine onv a deskV or other suitable surface -andfoperating it without injury to the surface. The topbox-like portion 5 of the carrying case ts over the machine and has a' handle strip 6 on top andlatches 1 at'th'e ends on crank 26 on one end of the shaft 21 which carries a similar bell crank at its other end. The long arms of these bell cranks 26 are rigidly attached to the ends of the end rail I4. A similar bell crank and end rail assembly is mounted for oscillation with a shaft 21 at the other end of themachine and the two end rail assemblies are linked to f operate simultaneously through the links 28 and 28' connected at their outer ends to the short arm of a bell crank 26 on each of the end rail assemblies, and at their other ends to the' opposite ends of the lever 29 pivotally mounted on its center 30 on the frame member 3l.

Further downward movement of the loading .key and the cam plate brings the other cam 2l into Contact with the lever 32 pivotally mounted Von the frame member 33 at 34. This lever is pivotallyconnectedthrough a pin and slotv connecthe bottom .edgeztolock over the latch pins 3 on the tray. VThe edges of this bok-likeportion and the, tray portion match and thusform a complete enclosure for the machine, vso that it may be stored or safely carried around. Obviously, a lock or locks may be provided for this 'enclosure tov prevent tampering Aby unauthorized persons.Y

The machineit'self has a rigid frame structure 8 to kwhich the various movlngpa'rts are attached and in which thel card space 9 is formed; The cards I Il, which areI all'uniformlynotch'edat I I at their sides near the top,are placed in the cardspace whilethe load key I2 is depressed; Depressing this key withdraws the'knife blades' I3 and raises the, endvrails I4,.while vat the same time the guide rail I5 for the' openend I6 of the card space is lifted into operative, position if it has. notlpreviouslybeen moved into this position.

When `the cards are in-place, the loading key I2 is raised.` This operationv of `the key I 2 first releases the knife `,blades I3 Vwhich enter' the tion 35`tova link 36 at 31, the other end 38 of Athis linkbeing connected to the horizontal arm 39 of a bell crank 40, mounted on an oscillatable pivot 4I 'on the arm 42, which isr pivoted at its other end 43 on the frame member 44. A similar arm'42 is pivoted at. therear of the machine frame 'and has a similar oscillatable pivot 4I on which another bell crank 40 is likewise mounted and'theftwo bell cranks have vertical arms 45 to theupper ends 46 of which a knife blade I3 is rigidly attached. A complementary knife blade mechanism V is mounted at the other end of the machine frame, the two mechanisms being connected to operate in unison to retract the blades I3 through links 41 and: 41', connected at their outer ends to the upper lends 48 of the vertical arms 45 and their other ends being connected to opposite arms 49 and 49' of lever 5U pivoted at its center 5I to the frame member 52.

Cam`2I also strikes arm' 53 on latch member 54, thus raising the latch paw1 55 off Vof pin 56 on link 51, releasing link 51 so it moves to the left in response to action ofthe spring 59. This operates the bell crank SII and link 6I to bring the end 'guide member "I5 into position to guide the ends 63 of the cards and keep them from slipping olf the guide rails while the knife blades atthe top are retracted from the .card notches, the-tops -of the cards" being guided at the same time by fthe rail members 64 under which the knife blades work, and the other'ends'GS of the notches II` near thetop `of the cards and then lowers jthe end rails I4 tothe level of the key rails;

I1 in their,inoperativejposition. Thus the cards are all in hanging position on the knife blades vso rthat their bottom edges are spaced above the level of the key rails I1- initheir inoperative positions.

The mechanism whereby this loading operation is VYperformed is shown in detail:Y in Figs. 'l to 11.v The loading key I2 is mounted on a clam yplate I8 Aslidably mountedon thevertical frame; member I9,of the machine. This cam-plate has two cams 2i)1 and 2|. ,During the depressing movement of the load key, the lower cam 20 acts'on the roller 22 ofv the lever V2i! `to bring the endV rails lIII up into their raised position iirst.

This. is done Athrough the klinkage comprising theconnection ,of the ilever 23 which is pivoted to the frame at 4, to the short arm 25 of the bell cardsbeing also guided by iixed guidey plate 68. Locking lever 61 slips under a pin at the pivot 69 to lock the guide rail I5 in position unti1 it is moved out of the way by'operation of the link 51 in reverse direction as explained' hereinafter. '1Springr58 normally retains the locking lever in locking position.

When the loading key is raised after the cards are loaded, the reverse operation of the cams 20 and 2i rst'releases the knife blades so that they reenter the notches at the top of the cards and then lowers the end rails allowing the cards to hang freely on the knife blades. Y

The selecting operation of the'machine is controlled and performed as follows: f

Each card railA and key unit I1-10`-1I is guided for vertical movement. `Upon raising any key`1I, the corresponding unit is raised as a the tops of all the vertical members 1lil and has a pair of spaced parallel arms 15, 16 pivoted to the frame.l One end of thelock bar 14` contacts and 'releases the main'l'ever lock 11 and the lock aeeaeeelz to arm 16, connecting it to the latch member 54 through a lost motion connection 82 for raising the latch pawl 55 off the pin 50 on link 51,'ifit hasnt been previously lifted by operation ofthe loading key, thus bringing the guide rail I up into guiding position. Any number of other keys may be` lifted to spring thel notches of the corresponding rail and' key units over the xedcatch rail 13, as may be desired. Now the main lever 19 is ready for operation. Its downward move'- ment produces a series of operating steps whereby the knife blades I3 are first retracted, then lowered slightly, then released so that the spring 80 causes them to reenter the notches of all those cards still remaining at the original level, being supported by onev or more of the raised card rails I1, while the cards having slotsl at their bottom edges over all the raised cardv rails have in the meantime dropped to a level where they are supported only by the unraised Vcard rails. Then the guide rail |5 is lowered out of the way of these latter cards at the open end of the card spacathe release bar 8| is moved\ to release all the keys and restore the lock bar 14, and the knife blades are raisedfslightly to their original position up against the guide members 64 and the link 51 is locked with the guide rail down.

The upward movement of the main lever 19 is performed by the main spring 83 upon release of the lever. During this movement the abutment member 84 is swung against the ends of any cards that may be in the lowered position and pushes them out toward the open end of the card space. When the lever 19 reaches its upper limit it is automatically hooked by the lock 11.

These main lever operations are performed by the aid of a series of levers actuated by the main lever either directly or through a cam means 85 mounted on a carriage 86 guided for vertical motion in response to the lever movement. A lost motion connection between the -main lever andL the carriage first moves the cam lever 81 into the.

plane of levers 88, 89 and 90, and then moves it vertically downward with the carriage so as to intercept rst the lever 8B. The spring 86 is for taking up this lost motion by holding up the carriage until the main lever has moved the. cam lever 81 into position. When lever 81Yinter- .cepts the lever 88 this lever in turnpperates the knife blade retracting means by means of its arm 9| sliding between a pairof guide pins 92' on link 41'. The next lever intercepted is 89, which lowers the knife blades while in their retracted position.

end 'of lever'88 and spring 80 restores theblades to their projecting position. The spring'sv99 restorethe blades to theirfnormal elevation against` the guide rails 64, when the cam lever 81 moves down off the end of lever 89.

In the meantime lever'-'90 hasV been intercepted by cam lever 81 and operates through an arm |00 sliding between guide pins |0| on release bar 8| to move it to the right and forward by reason of the diagonal guide slots |02 and pin screws- |03 (see Fig. 2)'. This movement of the release barl 8| pushes any vertical members of the card rail and key units that might be sprungl over the edge of the fixed catch rail 13 off of this rail,

so that these units all drop by gravity totheir inoperative position, simultaneously Alowering the This lowering operation is made possible by reason of the pivotal mounting of the knife blade assemblies on bell cranks 82, attached to shafts 92. The upper end of lever 89 is linked to the downwardly extending arm 94 of the bell' crank 82 on the right side of the machine at the front. The downwardly extending arms of the bell cranks at the rear of the shafts are linked for simultaneous complementary operation by means of the links 95 and 9B and lever 91, as shown, the

'lever 91 being pivoted on the frame member 98.

The springs 99 at the four corners of the machine urge the blade assemblies upwardly against the guide rails. The horizontal arms |30 of bell cranks 82 are connected by links |3| to the pivots 4| for lowering the blade assemblies against the. force of springs 99.

While the blades are still maintained in their lock bar 14 which releases the latch members 11 and 54. In the meantime another arm |04 ony lever 90 operating through a pin and slotl connection |05 moves the link rod 51 to the left. This rod has another pin and slot connection |03 at the other end with arm |01 of the bell crank 50, previously referred to, for lowering the guide rail l5. The locking lever 61 is pushed out from under the pin at the pivot 69 upon initial movement of the link rod 51 to the left, by the projecting cam member |08 riveted at |09 thereto and acting against a pin ||0 on the locking leverv 61. When the guide railhasv moved out of the way into its lowered positiorrthev latch member 54 drops over the pin 56, whichr has moved under the notched portion 55 of the latch member 54. Spring urges the latch member down. The spring ||2 urges the lever armv |00V to retract the release bar 8| after the cam lever 81 slidesdown oil the end of lever 90. During the upward movement of lever 19, cam lever 81 slidesover the backs of levers 90, 89 and 88 without operat ing them. At the top of its stroke lever 'I9 is locked by latch 11 which is yieldably urged into locking positionbyspring I1.

The main lever 19 has a pair of pins 93 and I I3 between which a cam and pawl ||4 at the top of link |I5 operates. The link is hinged at the bottom to one arm of a bell crank |I6 pivotally mounted on the shaft 21. The other arm ||8 of thegbell crank is oscillatable to strike the ejector bar 84 which is mounted 'on arms ||9 to swing into the lower end of the card space below the level of the cards still hanging on `the knife blades but above the bottoms of those that have been `dropped for ejection through the open end of the card space. The ejector bar 84 is urged out ofthe card space by spring |20, mounted on a projection |2| at the pivoted end of one of the arms ||9'. `The link I|5 is urged lforwardly by spring |22, the pivotal connection of the link being loose enough to permit a 'limited fore and aft oscillation of the link. As the main lever 19 is pressed down the pin 93 rides over the bevelled edge of the cam and under the pawl shoulder |23; on its return stroke the pin 93 picks upthe pawl shoulder |23 and .pulls the link |I5 up, which causes arm ||8 of bell crank I|6 to strike the ejector bar 84 to eject the lowered cards, while the bevelled cam surface is acted upon by a stationary pin |24 on frame member |25 to push the pawl shoulder |23 off the pin 93 0n the main'arm until the link is released and drops down to its inoperative position. K

The card notches and blades and card rails are designed so as to permit a llimited amount of misalignment of the cards in the card'spaoe from a strictly upright 'and squared position.

lowered" position the cam lever 8-1 slips off thef out of alignment during the loading operation, a series of guide wires 126, maybe used toseparate the card space 9 into smaller sections 9' in which 'even a single card might be kept from being cocked too much out of position for proper operation of the knife blades into the card support notches. These wires may be clipped into position in holes |21 in the frame at one end and into holes 128 and slots |29 at the other end to keep them vertically positioned.

In the present form of machine, closure or cover plates 8 are fitted around the machine except for the keyboard and operating lever and loading key and the openings at the top and left end of the card space to provide for loading and ejection of the cards respectively. This not only improves the appearance of the machine but prevents accidental injury the mechanism.

Fig. l2 shows some of the cards having been dropped and corresponds to the position of the controls after the operating lever has reached the end of its downstroke following the steps in the cycle of operations as shown progressively in Figs. 8, 9 and 10, after the knifeblades have been returned to their normal inward positions in the card notches of the cards remaining at the upper level.

Fig. 13 shows the result of the return movement of the operating lever 19 after it has completed a full downward stroke.l

Broadly then, thepresent machine provides a means operated as follows, to select all those description cards from a pack, which describe items having one or any combination of characteristics desired: Y

.After the machine is properly loaded and set for a selecting operation, the operator pulls up the key or keys which correspond to the desired characteristics. These keys once pulled up remain latched in their raised position until the operating lever is fully depressed, whereupon the keys are automatically returned to inoperative position. The operating lever is then fully de pressed and released whereupon it returns to its original position. In the process of operating the lever downwardly the knife blades are caused to withdraw from their normal card supporting position; the properly selected cards drop to a lower level as a result of their notches matching all the raised card rails, the remaining cards being held in their raised position by one or Vmore of the raised card rails; the knife blades are lowered slightly, moved inwardly into the side notches at the tops of the cards remaining in the raised positiomand then raised slightly, back to their original card supporting position; the guide rail is dropped out of the way; and the raised card rail and key units are released and drop to their normal lower level simultaneously releasing the main lever locking latch. Upon its release, theimain operatin.g lever is returned to its uppermost position by the main spring, and is locked by the latch which was released upon dropping of the rail and key units. On its way up the main operating lever causes the ejecting bar to strike the lowered cards sideways rand these cards are shifted so that they extend into the ejecting space to one side of the frame, where they can be grasped and manually removed from the machine for inspection; n

Operation of the loading key then permits reinsertion of the removed cards or anyadditional to the Amoving Y parts ofv 2539.5,923 However, to keep the cards from. getting too far' cards. into thecard chamber with the rest of the cards.`

Obviously, many modifications in the specific arrangement and 'form of parts as well as size of the card space may be made to accommodate any number of cards and to suit speciiic requirements, without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is dened in the appended claims.

This invention may be made and used by or` for the Government of the United States for gov ernmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalties thereon or therefor.

What is claimed is: Y

1. A selector comprising a frame adapted to receive a plurality of 'edge-notched sheets, said sheets having aligned notches formed in opposed sides near an edge transverse thereto, said sheets having notches formed in their lower edges in accordance with a prearranged pattern, .a pair of blades movable into the notches in the sides of said sheets, a pair of transverse end rails for supporting `said sheets with their side notches aligned with said blades,r a plurality of transverse rails at a normal level below the lower edges of said sheets conforming to notch positions of said pattern, means for projecting said blades intosaid side notches, means for lowering said end rails to substantially the normal level of the second ,said rails, key means for selectively raising one or more of the second said rails towards the lower edges of said sheets, guide means for the sides of said sheets, means for advancing and retracting said guide means, and means forejecting selected sheets.

i 2. A selector 'comprising a frame adapted to receive a plurality of edge-notched sheets, said sheets having opposed edges notched for Arece'ption of supporting elements and an edge notched in accordance with a prearranged classificationv pattern, selecting elements normally positioned' tuating the aforesaid means in timed relationship.

3. In a card system having a series of cards arbitrarily arranged in a vertical pack, each of which contains a description of one of a series of items belonging to a common class, means for simultaneously selecting those cards in the pack having descriptions of items with any common characteristic or combination of characteristics which may be desired, including means for releasably holding said cards in raised position, there being notches in the bottom margin of each card for each of the possible features pertaining to said class of items which are possessed by the item described on said card in accordance with a predetermined relation between feature and position of notch along said margin of the card, raisable transverse rails under the pack of cards at positions corresponding to selected features, guide means for vertical alignment of the cards, means for vraising selected rails to the over the selected rails and for rendering these holding means again operative to retain the unselected cards in raised position, and means for lowering the selected rails and removing the lowered cards sideways out of the pack.

4. In a card system having a series of cards arbitrarily arranged in a vertical pack, each oi which contains a description of one of a series of items belonging to a common class, means for simultaneously selecting those cards in the pack having descriptions of items with any common characteristic or combination of characteristics which may be desired, including notches in the bottom margin of each card for each of the possible features pertaining to said class of items which are possessed by the item described on said card in accordance with a predetermined relation between feature and position of notch along the edge of the card, raisable transverse rails under the pack of cards at positions corresponding to selected features, guide means for vertical alignment of the cards, means for supporting all the cards in raised position over the rails, means for raising selected rails to the bottom of the cards, means for removing the card supporting means and dropping the card or cards which are notched at the bottom margin at positions corresponding to all the raised transverse rails, means for then restoring the supporting meansto the cards remaining in raised position, means for lowering the raised transverse rails, means for removing the portion of the vertical guide means at one side of the lowered cards y from the other side of the pack at a point below the bottom of the raised cards.

5. In a card system having a series of cards arbitrarily arranged in a vertical pack, each of which contains a description of one of a series of items belonging to a common class, means for simultaneously selecting thosev cards in the pack A having descriptions of items with any common characteristic or combination of characteristics which may be desired, including notches in the bottom margin of each card for each of the possible features pertaining to said class of items which are possessed by the item described on said card in accordance with a predetermined relation between feature and position of notch along the edge of the card, raisable transverse rails under the pack of cards at positions corresponding to selected features, guide means rfor vertical alignment of the cards, means for supporting all the cards in raised position over the rails, means for raising selected rails tothe bottom of the cards, means for removing the card supporting means and dropping the card or cards which are notched at the bottom margin at positions corresponding to all the raised transverse rails, means for then restoring the supporting means to the cards remaining in raised position, means for lowering the raised transverse rails, means for removing thev portion of the vertica1 guide means at one side of the lowered cards, means for withdrawing the lowered cards through said side of the pack by pushing them from the other side of the pack at a point below the bottomof the raised cards. and a single lever means for operating all the above means in sequence with one operation.

wnLIAM H. vm BENsoHoTEN. 

